WWJE (What Would Jesus Eat?)

originally preached on 4/18/2021

Message Title: WWJE (What Would Jesus Eat?)
Theme: Even the Rocks Will Cry Out
Season: Easter
Main Text: Luke 24:36b-48
Scripture Reading: Psalm 4
RCL Scripture: *Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48
Focus: The resurrected Jesus reveals the truth through a snack.
Function: To look for the physical redemption of creation and not just the spiritual redemption in our lives.
Other Notes:

Farmer blessing: Can I have our farming families stand? We know you are preparing for planting season, perhaps you’ve already started. We want to take a moment to bless you as you start this season.

God, you are the Creator and Sustainer of Life. In marvelous ways, You take the rich life of the plant and carefully fold it into tiny seeds. Creation proclaims the delicate handiwork of your design.

We begin our planting season this week, dear Lord. We will plant the seeds that You have given us.Bless them, watch over them, and bring them to the full growth and rich harvest You wish to bless us with.

Protect our farmers as they enter the fields for long hours. Give them the energy they need to accomplish their work. Give them the rest they need to recharge for the next day. Give them the weather they need to make a smooth planting season. We ask you to bless their farm equipment, and each machine can sustain the role it plays in planting. We ask you to bless their farm hands. Keep the farmers and their workers safe.

Bless the entire farming family. May we support them during this laborious time as their church family. God we thank you for farmers and the ways they provide for our community, our country, and our world.

Amen. 

SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 4 Answer me when I cry out, my righteous God! Set me free from my troubles! Have mercy on me! Listen to my prayer! ²How long, you people, will my reputation be insulted? How long will you continue to love what is worthless and go after lies? Selah ³Know this: the Lord takes personal care of the faithful. The Lord will hear me when I cry out to him. ⁴So be afraid, and don’t sin! Think hard about it in your bed and weep over it! Selah ⁵Bring righteous offerings, and trust the Lord! ⁶Many people say, “We can’t find goodness anywhere. The light of your face has left us, Lord!” ⁷But you have filled my heart with more joy than when their wheat and wine are everywhere! ⁸I will lie down and fall asleep in peace because you alone, Lord, let me live in safety.

NATIONAL PARK: Glacier National Park

1. ENGAGE THE AUDIENCE: What is your favorite camping snack?
2. I have a very distinct snacking memory of my family camping at Glacier National Park in Montana. We were driving along the scenic highways getting the sites in when we saw a small black bear on the side of the road munching on dandelions. The bear looked up at the van and had a dandelion hanging out of its mouth like a flamenco dancer.

TRANSITION: As we continue our series “Even the Rocks Cry Out” we will see God’s glory presented through snacks. Yes, Jesus gets the munchies. Join me in opening our bibles to Luke 24.

SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 24:36b-48 ³⁶ While they were saying these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ³⁷ They were terrified and afraid. They thought they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸ He said to them, “Why are you startled? Why are doubts arising in your hearts? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet. It’s really me! Touch me and see, for a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones like you see I have.” ⁴⁰ As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹ Because they were wondering and questioning in the midst of their happiness, he said to them, “Do you have anything to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of baked fish. ⁴³ Taking it, he ate it in front of them. ⁴⁴ Jesus said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law from Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. ⁴⁶ He said to them, “This is what is written: the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and a change of heart and life for the forgiveness of sins must be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ Look, I’m sending to you what my Father promised, but you are to stay in the city until you have been furnished with heavenly power.”

EXPLAINATION:

1. As we’ve talked about before, the different Gospels don’t tell the story of Jesus exactly the same. The resurrection sightings are no different.
2. What happened just before?
   1. In the Gospel of Luke, the women saw the empty tomb and talked to angels but didn’t see Jesus. The disciples didn’t believe the women because it sounded like gossip.
   2. Then Jesus shows up on the road to Emmaus and strikes up a conversation with two disciples, but they don’t recognize him until they invite him to eat food with him. They tell the other disciples and say “He appeared to Simon” (though that story isn’t told in Luke).
   3. So, while the two disciples are telling the other disciples that they saw Jesus….
3. POOF! Jesus is there with them.
4. Jesus shows them his hands and feet and invites them to touch.
5. Then he asks for a snack before sorting out all the scriptures to them and commissioning them to tell all the nations this same thing.

INTERPRETATION: Jesus appears to this group of disciples and offers them the proof they need to know he isn’t a ghost or an angel. Jesus has resurrected in the flesh and the spirit.

1. It may not seem like an important distinction–resurrection of the flesh vs. resurrection of the spirit — but the resurrection of the body AND the spirit is significant.
   1. God is keeping God’s consistent promises through the full resurrection of Jesus.
   2. We don’t believe in a God that sorts out justice in the afterlife.
   3. We believe in a God who brings justice to this life.
   4. We believe in a God who will restore all of creation, not just the spiritual realm.
      1. Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
2. Jesus’s bodily resurrection shows that his actions on the cross didn’t only take away the sins of the world, BUT also restores all of creation. Body and Spirit are redeemed in this story.

APPLICATION: In Verse 48 Jesus tells the disciples that they are supposed to be witnesses of “these things.” Disciples of Christ share the story and spread the Good News.                

1. Audience engagement: Write these down
   1. What ways do we show spiritually that God is the Redeemer?
      1. We talk of forgiveness of sins.
      2. We talk of heaven and eternal life.
      3. We talk of spiritual gifts.
   2. What ways are we showing physically that God is the Redeemer?
      1. Loving our neighbors as ourselves
      2. Taking in the orphan
      3. Caring for the widow
      4. Feeding the hungry
      5. Loving the hurting
2. We reveal God’s redemption in our actions in our daily life. We point to Jesus with our lives.
   1. What do your actions currently point towards?

CONCLUSION: